Technology and Newspaper Industry (I)

Review of Newspaper Technology Development
Newspaper printing, as an important part of the modern printing industry, has a long history. From the perspective of the origin of technology, it can be traced back to the printing of lead type that was invented by the German G. J. Gutenberg in the 15th century AD. So far, China's newspaper printing technology has gone through three stages of development.
1. Lead type printing stage
From Gutenberg invented lead type printing, with the development of the industrial revolution. The first batch of modern newspapers in the world started to appear in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Subsequently, due to the adoption of power, the invention of roller-type movable type, automatic casting machine, etc., modern newspaper printing technology entered a mature stage in more than a hundred years from the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1853, Chinese missionaries introduced lead type printing. Until the early 1980s, this process was mainly used.
2. Phototypesetting and four-color printing stage
At the beginning of the 20th century, four color printing processes were born on the basis of traditional color separation engraving and modern photography techniques. In the 1940s, the use of photographic technology in the photographic materials business typesetting mode of operation temporarily exposed, compared with the traditional lead exhaust lead, cast, casting and other hot dry compared to this method is accordingly called "cold row ". In the 1970s, with the advancement of the electromechanical process, the concept of tower-type four-color printing was realized, and modern newspaper technology entered the period of phototypesetting and double-sided color high-speed printing. Due to the Cultural Revolution, China began to gradually adopt phototypesetting and four-color printing in the late 1980s after the reform and opening up.
3. Digital typesetting and non-axis printing stage
In 1793, the world’s first prototype of a small computer came out. In 1974, laser imagesetters came out in England. In 1985, Professor Wang Peixing of Peking University led the scientific research personnel to successfully develop the domestic Huaguang III laser shaper. In 1993, a prototype of a computer-based system was introduced abroad, which announced the beginning of digital printing of newspaper printing technology. In terms of machinery, its development has benefited from computer control technology. In the 1980s, foreign countries began to carry out the development and application of a non-shaft printing press. In the late 1990s, China’s newspaper industry began to introduce a large number of axisless printers and took the lead in applying computer-to-computer systems in Asia.
It is easy to see from the course of development that the development of high-tech forecasting and printing complement each other and stand together. Every technological innovation will inevitably bring about a leap in the quality and speed of newspaper printing.
Yangcheng Evening News Group's technology application process
The Yangcheng Evening News has a history of 45 years since it was founded on October 1, 1957. Since the launch of its own publication, it has paid special attention to the effectiveness of the newspaper's pointed report. “On the day of the news on the same day” is a relentless pursuit of the Yangcheng Evening News. Over the past decades, we have attached great importance to the role of printing technology in the survival and development of newspapers, emphasizing that we must increase efficiency through technology, increase speed through technology, and spare no effort in applying and introducing new technologies. For 45 years, the Yangzhou Evening News Group has experienced three stages in the high-tech aspects of printing. (To be continued)